Fertilizer Application

Thread: oops.

. In a perfect world all lawns are thick, green watered and mowed properly to prevent crabgrass. In the real world most customers never even come close to maintaining their lawns with good cultural practices..... leaving us LCO's opting for products like a pre to give us some sort of edge.

Well said... Let's see should I apply a pre-emergent once and control 95% of the weeds for 95% of the growing season in marginal areas of the lawn or skip it because of temporary root pruning and pound the dog sh!t out of it every 6-7 weeks with 2,4-D, MSMA, quinclorac or anything else that might be in our bag of tricks in an attempt to keep weeds under control...and let's not forget...the customer off our back?? Some things are just beyond the LCO's control...and some things aren't. In business(and let's face it, most of us aren't doing this for a hobby) the ultimate goal is to keep the customer happy. To me it's pretty obvious of the methods discussed which causes the least amount of impact to reach the ultimate goal.

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"The Poor Fish" circa 1930's: The Poor Fish wouldn't have been caught if he'd known enough to keep his fool mouth shut.

"Opportunity is missed by most because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work"- Thomas Edison, businessman/inventor

all that would depend on the circumstances. Are we renovating a lawn that has major issue. what are those issues?

If you are attempting to improve a lawn by overseeding and there is a third party who's involvment may be to your detriment, one of you is going to have to manage the job. With no management what would you expect? Since you have the most to loose I would think you should be the one to manage the schedule. Its probably best to seed in the fall if possible anyway which would make things a lot more simple for you.

There is no altering the 6 step program for the 3rd party squirt 'n fert guys. Fall would work, but that is when the second round of blanket broadleaf is sprayed. Just as the seedlings are emerging. No room for the 3 week window, because our season is so short, especially if the use granular.

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Now that I know that clay's texture(platelets) has nothing to do with water infiltration, percolation, or drainage,,, I wonder what does...
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New seedlings can sometimes withstand a properly applied weed control. When it says on the label "Do not apply to new seedling" I suspect they are just being cautious. They don't want to pay for your new seed. It is not unusual for customers to seed in the spring--yet I seldom hear of anyone having to reseed due to herbicide treatment. Grass is not a broadleaf--new grass or old.
But maybe you can get the 3rd party to hit it early, say first week of Sept. Sow your seed second week of Sept. Or...Sow your seed at the time of warmest soil temp (and quickest germination) 2nd week of August. Try to get them to delay fall weedo until late Sept. Or trade for a late October winterizer feeding. They should not object as long as they get paid the same.

I played that game for a while and got nothing. Finally told the HO they would have to fire TGCL if they want me to grow grass, which some do. I won't even try to grow grass for people who maintain a separate squirt n fert service.

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Now that I know that clay's texture(platelets) has nothing to do with water infiltration, percolation, or drainage,,, I wonder what does...
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